


We Can Make Our Own

by agentsimmons



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Fourth of July, M/M, Science Boyfriends, Science Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-06 18:23:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4232073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Tony stared long and hard at the calendar on the desk in Pepper's office as he waited for her to come in. He knew she would be surprised to see him there so early, but this was important. She would then rant at his reason for being there, but then this was so important that the impending argument was inconsequential.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Can Make Our Own

Tony stared long and hard at the calendar on the desk in Pepper's office as he waited for her to come in. He knew she would be surprised to see him there so early, but this was important. She would then rant at his reason for being there, but then this was so important that the impending argument was inconsequential. 

"Tony?" Her stunned voice broke his thoughts and he turned in his chair and smiled at her. She looked at the clock on the wall just to make sure she hadn't actually misread the time on her phone and then narrowed her eyes on him as she came into the room and sat down in her chair. "Okay, out with it. Because I don't know if I should be impressed or worried. And my gut says I should probably go with the latter."

"What, I can't visit you on a whim anymore? I thought you meant it when you said we could still be friends, Pep." He frowned melodramatically.

She kept her suspicious gaze narrowed on him. "I did. And as your very good friend, I know better than to believe you're just here at 8 in the morning to say hi. And I didn't call you in for anything. So, come on, out with it." She set her bag aside, leaned back in her chair and folded her arms expectantly.

"Yeah, okay," Tony conceded. "I'm here about the fiscal year end board meeting on Friday." 

Pepper raised an eyebrow. "So far I'm not liking where this is going. What about it?"

Tony let out a puff of air from his cheeks. "I'm not going to be there."

Pepper's arms fell immediately onto the desk in front of her, palms landing against the surface with a slap. " _What?_ You can't be serious?"

"Middle name."

"Tony, there are a lot of things that you can wriggle out of or that I can make excuses for your absence from, but this isn't one of them." She looked at him in complete disbelief. "You know that. As the chief shareholder and owner of SI, you're obligated to be there. Do you know what it will look like to our investors and lawyers and, oh I don't know, _everybody_ if you don't show up to the most important meeting of the year? You know, the one where we literally discuss the financial gains and losses over the past year so we can look ahead? It'll look like something's not on the up and up."

"Look, Pep, I know all of that. Really, I do, but-"

"-this isn't negotiable," she cut him off. "The _only_ reason - and it's a very soft only and even then I wouldn't advise it - you could have for missing this kind of meeting is if the world was plunged into some catastrophic danger and you were the last remaining superhero to deal with it. And unless you've consulted a fortune teller and have that marked on your calendar, then you really shouldn't be here wasting my time with this. You're going." She folded her arms again, authoritatively. 

"If you're finished telling me things I already know, maybe you could just hear me out," Tony tried again. "I know this is asking a lot even for you, but I have to be somewhere else this weekend. It's absolutely crucial that I be at my island by Saturday so that means leaving no later than Friday."

"You are not seriously suggesting that I excuse you from this meeting just because you suddenly feel like visiting an island you haven't been to more than, what, a handful of times at most in all the years I've known you?" Pepper raised her brows incredulously at this. "That's a stretch even for you, Tony."

"It's the truth. Already alerted the staff to have it ready for a long weekend and scheduled the flight with my pilot. It's a done deal." Tony shrugged indifferently, but he could still see the fiery indignation in Pepper's eyes. She still wasn't ready to let him have his way.

"Well then, undo the deal. I'm not budging on this. You can't. Miss. It." She then looked at him curiously. "Why would you even plan for this kind of vacation when you've known about this meeting for a month? We have this meeting every year, Tony."

"Yeah, but before this year I didn't have a reason to ignore it. And I may have forgotten about the meeting until the last minute because I was too busy paying attention to my more pressing engagement."

Pepper gave him her best dead-eyed, unimpressed scowl. "Tony, don't tell me you're getting married and didn't bother to tell anyone before now."

"Uh, no. Maybe next time," he said with a chuckle as he looked back over at the calendar. "But this is still very important, Pep. You need to believe me. I wouldn't be asking if I-" Tony went silent as he studied the calendar a little bit longer. He then turned his gaze back to Pepper, who was waiting - oh so impatiently - for whatever epiphany he had just had to be expressed. "Genius. I am a genius."

"A genius wouldn't suggest skipping out on the most critical meeting of the year," Pepper countered, acid on her tongue. 

"So how about instead of my skipping out on the meeting on Friday, we move it to Thursday? That way, I can be there and still make it to the island by Saturday? Win-win." He gave her a charming smile as if it could sweeten the deal.

"How is that a win-win, Tony?" She looked at him incredulously. "Everything is scheduled in New York for Friday. That's when everyone's planning on. It would be highly irregular and unprofessional to inconvenience-"

" _Pepper!_ " Tony practically pleaded and she stopped, blinking in confusion at his insistence. "Listen, I know I'm asking you to move heaven and earth to get this thing rescheduled to Thursday. And I will literally buy you anything in the world if you can make this happen. You want your own art museum, you got it. But I need you to help me here. Please."

Pepper was silent as her eyes studied him. He was a perfect blend of desperation and determination. He was clearly determined enough to see his plan through and therefore not above taking desperate measures. Finally she sighed.

"Fine, I'll see what I can do," she relented, but before he could open his mouth to say something not at all on par with the gratitude he should be expressing over her concession, she held up a hand. "On one condition. Tell me what this is about."

Tony hesitated, but then nodded his head toward the calendar. "Saturday is... You know."

Pepper scrunched her face at him, but then glanced quickly at the calendar to remind herself of the date. Her face immediately relaxed into one of complete understanding. She looked back at Tony, who could only shrug weakly. "I'll make it happen," she said with a firm nod.

* * *

"Good Morning, Dr. Banner." JARVIS was the first thing that Bruce heard every morning. He wasn't sure if he said good morning to every member of the team when they were staying in the tower, he assumed probably, but he was glad to have the steady voice greet him upon awaking. It grounded him. It reminded him he was safe at Avengers Tower. It reminded him of... "Sir, Mr. Stark has requested your presence for breakfast in his apartment this morning if you are interested."

Bruce smiled, immediately understanding the request. The tower was empty, save himself and Tony. It was the first time in a long while that it was just the two of them again and Tony was bad at hiding how much he obviously missed the ragtag team of heroes being there whenever he turned a corner. Thor was visiting with Jane, newly relocated to London where her mother lived. Steve's friend Sam Wilson had convinced Steve to take a road trip along Route 66 with him at his expense to celebrate Steve's birthday and they had left several days prior. And Natasha and Clint were currently deep undercover somewhere in Japan for what reason he wouldn't know until they returned.

"Tell me, JARVIS, did Mr. Stark actually  _make_ breakfast? Or is he asking me to come upstairs and eat cereal with him?" He asked with a chuckle as he dressed. 

"I believe your second guess would be correct, sir," JARVIS answered with a lilt to his intonation that defied the rules of artificial intelligence.

Bruce just shook his head slightly, smiling in amusement as he finished putting on a pair of socks. He decided he would just grab his shoes to take along with him for whenever he headed down to the lab. Within a few moments, he found himself entering Tony's apartment. He bit back a fond laugh at how unkempt he looked, not having bothered to dress in the slightest yet beyond his pajama pants and a faded and stretched tshirt.

"I didn't realize this was a casual dress affair," he teased as he came into the large apartment and headed over to sit down across from him at the table. "I wouldn't have bothered changing."

"If you sleep in the nude, I'm never going to forgive myself for not having JARVIS make the dress details clear," Tony answered with a small smirk. Bruce figured he had to have had at least one cup of coffee by now if he was already awake enough to reach for his arsenal of flirtatious quips - the man had to have a million different varieties of them in his memory bank.

"Well then, you can relax," Bruce answered with a thin smile. "I haven't slept in the nude since before the accident. Just in case. I think a raging green monster is traumatizing enough for most people without the addition of him being completely exposed."

"More's the pity," Tony said, raising his coffee cup towards him and then taking a sip. "But you do strike me as a guy who at least sleeps shirtless. Tell me I'm right."

"And stroke your ego some more?" Bruce asked with a laugh as he grabbed the bowl and spoon Tony offered him. "Nuh-uh. Besides, a little mystery keeps it interesting." 

Tony's eyes went blank for a moment before he all but blurted, "Hey, you should come to my island."

Bruce blinked. "Okay. Not exactly the comeback I was expecting." He reached for the box of sugary cereal and briefly contemplated asking Tony if he minded if he at least made some scrambled eggs to go along with this highly nutritional breakfast. 

"Yeah, that wasn't smooth at all," Tony replied with a nervous chuckle. "But it was a genuine offer. I'm heading out to my island this weekend and I'm not about to let you sit around here by yourself being bored. So, if you wanna come along, pack your things before Friday. If you don't wanna come along, I'll pack for you. You'll love it. Trust me." Tony finished gracelessly by shoveling two spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth in quick succession, not bothering to swallow the first. 

Bruce swallowed, throat dry, and then scrunched his face. "Wait, have you talked to Pepper about this?"

"Uh... Yes?"

"And she's okay with you just missing the big SI meeting on Friday?" Bruce raised an incredulous brow towards the billionaire.

"Didn't know you knew about that," Tony said, deflecting.

"Kind of hard not to when Pepper mentioned it pretty pointedly the last time she was here trying to get you to sign off on the prelim paperwork for the meeting. Not to mention she might have pulled me aside and told me to make sure I had your butt out the door before 8," he added with a chuckle. "Not so sure why she thinks I should be your keeper in that department. Steve's up at dawn. She should have asked him to play revelry at your bedside." He took a few bites of his cereal, exercising more manners by keeping his bites small and slow.

"Um..." Tony had that blank look on his face again. "About that, I had to have the meeting moved to Thursday. So it works out fine. And after that meeting, you better believe I'm going to need a long weekend on an island. So, what do you say?"

Bruce swirled his spoon around in his bowl, studying the cereal intently as he considered it. Finally, he hitched a shoulder. "Sure. Sounds nice."

* * *

Nice was an understatement. Bruce was in awe at what it actually meant to have a private island. It was something he never could have fathomed. Sure, he'd been on a lot of islands and in a lot of places, but this was somehow different. The absolute seclusion was almost mind numbing without the addition of a beautiful island home with a design that breathtakingly worked to fuse the outdoors with the indoors on the ground floor. And, of course, with just a few keystrokes the house was linked to JARVIS and there was even a small attached workshop just in case the siren call of science and engineering couldn't be ignored even on vacation.

Leave it to Tony to figure out how to have the best of technology and many more amenities in the middle of paradise. But Bruce had to admit that having the best of both worlds made it a little bit nicer - not that he would actually admit it because he sometimes worried he was getting spoiled and that would not be a good thing. A man like Bruce Banner couldn't afford the luxury of getting spoiled, he would tell himself.

As he prepared lunch for himself and Tony on Saturday afternoon, he contemplated going down to the beach to do some reading or just reading on the veranda. He got lost a little in these thoughts as he stared out the large window in the kitchen. So he didn't notice the warm, dark eyes on him for several minutes.

"Oh, uh, hey," he fumbled slightly when he finally did. "Almost finished with lunch."

"You look..." Tony's voice trailed for a moment, but then he cleared it. "You look totally blissed out here, you know that? Like you belong."

Bruce smiled wider than normal. He couldn't help himself. "Well, it's hard not to feel at least a little bliss in a place like this. It's... I would say nice, but I don't think that covers it. It's borderline perfect really."

"I think that might be grounds for saying screw the team and packing up our things and moving here permanently. What do you say?" Tony asked playfully as he came around to stand opposite of Bruce, across the kitchen island.

"Mmm, I say I could handle it, but you would go stir crazy after about a week. And I'm not so sure a stir crazy Tony plus a potential rage monster would be the best combination."

"I disagree. I think it would be the best combination and then some. Besides, you're in the middle of nowhere so you wouldn't hurt anybody if you did go green," Tony responded with fervent nonchalance and Bruce just ignored it with a roll of his eyes.

"I bet the team would like this place too. Can't see how they wouldn't," Bruce said, changing the subject. "It's a shame everyone was busy."

"Uh, yeah. Shame," Tony replied, but his tone was unconvincing. "But, hey, I'm sure they're enjoying themselves way more than they would here. Thor's probably flexing every single muscle he's got with Jane's help," he started with a knowing smirk that caused Bruce to shake his head. "The spy twins are probably getting some kind of buzz from the deep cover op. And Steve's living his All-American dream and there'll probably be like a huge firework celebration in his honor wherever they stop tonight."

Bruce laughed. "Yeah, must be nice to have your birthday celebrated with firewo-" The laugh died in his throat and his face twisted. He stopped what he was doing and looked at Tony questioningly. "You... You brought me here on purpose." In spite of the confusion etched on his face, the statement was self-assured.

"New York is a nightmare this weekend. You didn't need to go through that again." Tony's tone was calm and gentle. 

Bruce could barely control the wave of emotions that washed over him as he studied Tony and considered the gesture. It was true that New York was a nightmare on the 4th of July, and the few days surrounding it. It was a nightmare everywhere really.

He'd somehow forgotten all about the holiday when he'd come back to the United States and the year before had seen the emergence of the Hulk who seemed to hate fireworks as much as guns. Tony had tried to explain to the Hulk that he didn't need to be afraid and it calmed him down just enough, but he still growled every time another firework went off around the tower until at last people stopped shooting them off and he gave up control. But after the initial Hulk out, it was another two days worth of Bruce trying not to lose control as fireworks went off all over the city at random. He'd finally had to lock himself in the lab with noise cancelling headphones, that Tony had rush delivered to the tower, in order to get through the ordeal. New Year's Eve hadn't been much better, but at least the fireworks weren't as persistent.

But Tony was admitting now that he had brought him all the way to the middle of nowhere just to prevent that from happening again. And Bruce couldn't trust himself to respond properly. He was somewhat used to Tony throwing his money and privilege around on behalf of the team or to keep Bruce comfortable, but this... This felt beyond anything he'd done to date and Bruce couldn't trust himself to analyze it objectively. It was too much. It was overwhelming. 

"You okay?" Tony cut through his thoughts with concern that did nothing to help Bruce at the moment. "I didn't offend you did I? I guess I should have just told you instead of keeping it a secret. I just didn't want you to try and protest the plan or think I was underestimating your control."

Bruce took several breaths to calm himself. He wasn't close to an incident, far from it, but he was unsteady just the same. "I... I'm not offended. I just- This is a lot, Tony." 

Tony shook his head and leaned slightly across the island. "Look, Bruce, this was important. Don't feel guilty. I wanted to do this for you."

That did absolutely nothing to help either. If anything, it made matters worse. Tony was more of a friend than Bruce could have ever imagined he would find in his miserable lifetime and here he was taking advantage of that friendship under false pretenses. Not that he didn't want to be Tony's friend. On the contrary, he _needed_ Tony's friendship. But he also wanted more, against his better judgment, and it made him uncomfortable taking Tony's friendly gestures at face value all the while the annoyingly illogical side of his brain wanted to take them for more.

So he didn't say anything in response. He simply nodded and they spent their lunch in companionable silence, save a few casual words here and there, before splitting up for most of the rest of the day. He figured Tony must have sensed his uneasiness or, worse, his feelings and was more than happy to keep him at arm's length until it could pass. 

* * *

Tony found Bruce seated cross legged on the floor, back against the sofa, watching a muted playback stream of the annual fireworks display on the East River. There was a far away look in his eyes and Tony wondered if he had gone into a meditative state or if he had simply fallen asleep since it was just past midnight. He briefly debated turning and leaving him to be alone until the next morning, but he couldn't. He couldn't seem to keep away from the physicist for very long when he wasn't obligated to. So instead he very casually sat down on the sofa, careful not to be too close so as not to disturb him or make him feel uncomfortable - and that was difficult when he wanted to be closer than close.

"It's silly," Bruce said after several moments of silence, his voice low and distant, "but I wish I could enjoy them. I know they're just expensive, brightly colored chemical explosions and I don't know how I feel about our country celebrating when there's so much... Well, I won't go there. But it's such a simple tradition. People getting together just for the hell of it to blow stuff up and get drunk and sing nonsensical anthems off key.

Young lovers making memories because at that moment they feel a lot like those brightly colored explosions. Old lovers who may not feel like the brightly colored fireworks anymore, but still feel like those ones that are white and burst forth with more magnitude as they fall slowly back down to the ground rather than just exploding and fizzling out. And the light in kids' eyes as their awed by the magic of it. Or even the screams if they don't understand," he added that part more quietly and Tony understood he was thinking of Hulk. "Families and strangers and friends. It's just... It shouldn't really be that big of a deal, but I guess I just wish I could enjoy it like every other normal person."

Bruce paused and shook his head. Tony could tell he was shaking his head at himself for being overly sentimental about the patriotic holiday. But, honestly, Tony was just floored by it all and felt his heart tugging, wishing he could give Bruce that. Yeah, he agreed it was a bit silly, but wasn't that a quintessential point of humanity? That's what this was about, at the heart of it. Bruce just wanted to feel like he was a part of humanity. Tony knew he had never felt really much a part of humanity, even before the experiment. But now that he had been forced even further to the outside of it, running and hiding and losing himself in introspection and the art of removing oneself from the equation, he clearly realized all the more that the silly things he couldn't have were just as much a thorn in his side as the big things he denied himself.

"You know," Bruce began again when Tony didn't speak, "when I was with Betty, we used to argue about the frivolity of the holiday. As you can imagine, she was super into it. It was just second nature since she grew up around the whole patriotic set and got to experience some of the best celebrations. And she was just a fun person." Tony could see the fond smile at the edge of his lips. "But I was the opposite. I didn't care about the holiday. Why would I? It was pointless. It hadn't meant anything to me as a kid. And I was never that fond of our government and the General wasn't making any strong arguments to persuade me otherwise no matter how much I cared for Betty. So she would try to drag me to watch fireworks and I would indulge her every now and then, but..." His voice trailed into a sigh.

"Now you wish you had appreciated it more when you had the chance?" Tony asked, filling in the blanks when Bruce seemed unable to finish.

"Yeah," he answered. "Who knows. If I'd made better memories of the holiday than fighting with Betty and being flippant, maybe the Other Guy wouldn't be so adverse to it."

"Maybe," Tony replied with a nod. "But, hey, you never know. The Big Guy might get used to them eventually now that you're back in the world. He might realize they're a good thing. You know, maybe I could get him used to them by firing them off in the safety of the lab every now and then when you're not expecting it."

Bruce jerked his head around finally to look at Tony, Tony meeting his amused gaze with a grin. He loved amusing Bruce in the midst of one of his serious introspections. "Okay, we really need to talk about your machochism, Tony. It's starting to worry me just a little bit."

Tony laughed slightly and then shrugged. "Alright, maybe not the best plan." He looked back at the television for a moment and then another thought occurred to him. "Or we could just make our own fireworks."

He met Bruce's gaze again, but the physicist had one eyebrow raised curiously at his comment. "So is sex _always_ your Plan B?" Bruce asked playfully, finally giving into a small huff of a laugh.

"Oh, right," Tony said as he made the connection. "Actually, sex is usually my Plan A so really that should have tipped you off, but for once I did not mean that the way it sounded."

"Of course not," he thought he heard Bruce mumble and Tony suddenly scrambled at the realization of how that came across.

"Not to say I'm not open to the other interpretation. In fact, I'm very, very open to it. _Entirely open_. I hope you understand the innuendo I'm going for. By the way, your mind went there before mine so are you open to it? Never mind, silly question." He sighed, conviction in the sound. "So what I meant was maybe we could figure out how to create fireworks with less bang. Totally marketable if you think about it. Lots of people have anxiety issues or sensitive ears. Some people might have kids that can't handle the boom, but they still want to be in the park, you know? There could be special displays-" Tony brought his ramble to a sudden end when he noticed Bruce was staring at him intently. "What?"

"I... Uh..." Bruce stammered, his mind clearly at a loss. "What was that... What you just said..."

Tony scrunched his face. "About the fireworks with less bang? Yeah, I guess I see where you're going with this. Kind of difficult to cause an explosion without, well the explosion. But maybe-"

"-no, I meant..." Bruce cut him off with a slight sharpness before losing courage and ducking his head. "The other part?" He all but mumbled the question.

Tony considered his previous ramble and then realized what Bruce was asking. "Oh, the part about being open to having sex with you? Wait... Are you seriously telling me you didn't know that already? I thought... Are you serious?"

"Um... Is this a trick question?" Bruce tilted his head slightly.

"Jeez, and here I thought a blind man would have noticed. Fury only has one eye and he noticed. Bruce, I've been all but throwing myself at you for the past 10 months," Tony confessed casually. Any initial nervousness he would have had about actually admitting his intentions had faded somewhere around the third month of realizing how far he had fallen for the other man. He'd only reserved from admitting his intentions because of their friendship. "You really didn't notice? I just thought you weren't interested that way, but weren't weirded out enough not to still be friends which was a crucial reason why I didn't _actually_ throw myself at you. Here I was thinking how frustratingly awesome it was that I didn't have to lose you completely."

Bruce furrowed his brow. "Lose me? Tony, I'm a grown man. I knew you were flirting. I thought it was kind of obvious I was flirting back. But I never thought you... You know. Actually wanted me as a notch for your belt."

Tony cringed. He hated it because he knew that's exactly what many of his past escapades had amounted to. Just a mindless need he could never seem to sate. Only Pepper had come close to taming the strange beast inside, showing him the role emotional intimacy played in the grand scheme of things.  

"Look, Tony, if you had wanted me to..." Bruce didn't seem to have the words to express himself, looking a little disheartened in a way that made Tony eye him with sudden curiosity. "You could have just asked." He shrugged. "I probably would have said no, because of the Other Guy at the time... I didn't know much about him before working with you and the team. Still learning. But I could have handled the proposition maturely without making it awkward and straining our friendship. God, that's the last thing I would have let happen, Tony. And then you could have at least known I would have... If..." He sighed in defeat and turned his head away, brushing his fingers through his hair out of nervous frustration. "And it would have been enough for me too. Knowing you were at least interested in being with me for a night."

Tony's eyes widened and he felt his throat strangle as he stared at the man who had all, but outright confessed just how interested he was. _Wait, he would have whored himself out for me?_ That thought made Tony's blood boil for a multitude of reasons.

"Well, damn." Tony's exasperated huff caused Bruce to look back at him nervously, as if afraid now  _he_ was the one who had gone too far and that just wouldn't do. "Clearly we both forgot to invert the fraction somewhere because we've seriously screwed up this equation."

"Tony, what are you talking about?" Bruce asked, his tone still defeated and causing Tony to become emotional.

"What am I talking about!? I'm talking about _you_ thinking I just wanted you as a notch in my belt! Like this is about my bruised ego or something. If that were the case, I would have gotten over it a long time ago. Would have figured you weren't worth my time and found twenty other people more interested. Not really an admirable trait, but it's the truth." He stared hard at the physicist, silent for a moment, taking in Bruce's confused eyes. 

"But here's the thing, Bruce, I've been throwing more than my body at you. You really don't get that? I've thrown my money and my time and my concern and my insecurities and just... Why do you think we're even _here?_ I would do absolutely anything to make you feel safe, Bruce. I..." Tony gritted his teeth before shrugging widely. "Oh what the hell. I'm fucking in love with you, okay? Do you get it now?"

Bruce's eyes widened, an unreadable expression in them, and Tony couldn't take it. He fell back on the couch, closing his eyes and rubbing his face with his hands in frustration. There was a very real possibility that his desire to keep Bruce at least as a friend was now shot. Whether or not Bruce was interested in sex or more than sex, he'd gone and skyrocketed straight to those three words that had the unfair ability to make or break a situation. The pounding in his head made him fear they would break this one.

"You... Love me?" Bruce's low octave voice was even lower, filled with disbelief and Tony could only sigh and try not to think about how heartbreakingly right it sounded although he could do without the disbelief.

"Bruce, I had my entire company and staff of lawyers and investors rearrange their schedules so I could bring you here before the fireworks could freak out the Other Guy. I'm a man of action so don't make me say it again. Unless..." He paused, debating. "Unless you need to hear it again. In that case, I'll say it. I love you."

Tony's eyes snapped open at the sudden weight of Bruce's forehead against his knee and the vibration of Bruce's laughter. It was more than a little unexpected.

"God, we're horrible at math," Bruce said through his laughter. Once he managed to sober up, he craned his neck to look up at Tony. "You thought I wasn't interested when this whole time I thought you were just being nonchalant about the whole thing. I figured you must be used to nobodies falling for you the second you look at them so my infatuation, given everything you did for me, was just to be expected. I thought your casual flirting was your way of keeping it friendly and not awkward, but also letting me know you weren't interested beyond that. Maybe it's horrible of me, but I thought _I_ was obvious so I figured you would have taken advantage of it if you really wanted to... After Pepper, of course. I would have definitely said no if you were still with Pepper."

There was silence between them for a moment before Tony leaned forward and tentatively cupped Bruce's chin, grateful he didn't flinch or pull away. " _You_ are not a nobody. Never were. But I don't think I've ever met a person less obvious than you, Bruce. You're too good at keeping things to yourself. Like that confession just now. I'm pretty sure you kind of skirted around the whole love thing. But, you know, it's fine. I like that you keep me guessing." He let a genuine smile spread across his face.

"Sure you do," Bruce bantered, rolling his eyes slightly. He slipped from Tony's grip and repositioned himself on his knees. He then placed a careful kiss on Tony's more than ready lips, only gently pushing and then breathing softly on them as he pulled away just a little. "Obvious enough yet?" 

Tony wanted to recapture his lips so badly that he could only just register the question. "Is what obvious?"

"I'm in love with you too," Bruce answered with a thin smile that Tony quickly swallowed against his desperate mouth.

One of Bruce's hands found the back of his neck, playing with the hair at the nape and Tony ran one of his own hands through Bruce's mess of hair. Tony wasn't sure who initiated a deeper kiss, but as his tongue darted into Bruce's mouth hungrily, he realized he didn't care. Bruce was perhaps a little shaky at first, but Tony couldn't blame the guy. When was the last time he'd actually kissed anyone? But the instincts were there. Oh, yes, whoever the last person Bruce had kissed - he only briefly thought it was probably Betty - had been a very lucky person because the man had glorious lips and a tongue Tony could already tell was as naturally sharp in this skill as it was when bantering or talking science.

"Fireworks," Tony breathed out heavily almost as soon as they parted. Bruce gave him a shy, curious smile. "There were definite fireworks. Did you see them? Wanna make more?" 

Bruce laughed in amusement before letting it settle into a dangerous kind of smile that Tony hadn't even been aware he was capable of, but one he wasn't about to complain about. "Well," Bruce said thoughtfully, "it is the Fourth of July weekend. It wouldn't be very patriotic of us if we didn't. And we can't very well not be patriotic when our team leader is Captain America himself." There was a mischievous, lustful glint in Bruce's eyes that pushed Tony just a little bit further over the edge.

"God bless the U.S.A.," Tony replied only half-jokingly before capturing Bruce's lips again.

* * *

**1 Year Later**

The entire Avengers team, plus several of their friends, were settled along the beach of Tony's private island. There was cake and drinks for Steve's birthday. There was a nice fire going. There was music playing. It was all around a wonderful Fourth of July celebration that Tony had been planning for several months.

Smiling proudly to himself, Tony passed through his small crowd of friends and found Bruce sitting a little further out on the beach, close to the lapping waves. "Well, hello there, gorgeous. You here alone?" He asked with a charming smile as he stood beside Bruce and looked down at him. 

Bruce looked up at him with a playful quirk of his own lips. "Nope," he said before looking back out on the ocean. "Here with my boyfriend."

"That's disappointing. Anyone I know?"

Bruce's smile grew. "Oh, just Tony Stark. Genius, billionaire, philanthropist. You don't stand a chance."

"Really? _That_ guy? You can do better than that."

"Oh, I don't know. I'm not much of a catch myself. I have a bit of a temper."

Tony snorted. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, but Tony can handle it. We're pretty good for each other."

Tony's face lit up, ironically a bit like a firework. "Well, then. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of true love or anything." Bruce rolled his eyes in fond amusement. Tony then turned around dramatically and looked down at Bruce again, pointing a finger at nothing in particular. "Was that guy bothering you?" Bruce could only laugh at his screwball antics. Once the silly moment had passed, Tony clapped his hands excitedly. "Ready for the fireworks, babe?"

"Depends. What kind of fireworks did you have in mind?" Bruce raised a playful eyebrow.

"Tease. Stop that. Plenty of time for that later. We're being sentimental right now." Tony shook his head at him, though still smiling. He then pulled out his Starkphone. "Alright, JARVIS, time for the show," he instructed, sitting down on the sand beside Bruce.

"Yes, sir," JARVIS intoned before cutting the music from the speakers and syncing up to them. "Mr. Stark welcomes you to his first annual July 4th firework extravaganza. Sit back and enjoy a spectacular, innovative fireworks display synced to music."

As promised, the fireworks display was spectacular and innovative. Tony had used a fair amount of money and resources to figure out how to engineer even more brilliant and elaborate fireworks than had yet been seen and his ability to code allowed him to sync the display up perfectly to whatever music was currently playing - the selection ranging from AC/DC to traditional patriotic songs to Tchaikovsky. But the biggest achievement, the entire point of it all, was that he had created a temporary, stationary island far enough away so that the fireworks would give off only the slightest rumble for effect from where they watched. It was just enough to give Bruce the _feeling_ of fireworks without the full explosion that would upset the Hulk - who really still didn't like fireworks yet for some reason (as they'd found out once again on New Year's Eve).

"This is incredible," Bruce said with a content sigh and Tony tightened his arm around him. "You know, I never thought watching thousands of dollars blow up at a time could be this satisfying. But it is."

"Well, I _am_ the king of blowing things up," Tony replied with a small laugh. Bruce laughed too. "But I've gotta admit, it's never been as satisfying as this."

They slipped into comfortable silence as they sat nestled together on the beach, watching the extravagant fireworks display light up the sky and ocean below. They didn't need to say anything more serious. They both knew that every single firework that lit the sky carried the same three unspoken words: _I Love You_. 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a thrown together, barely edited (time constraint due to holiday weekend) fluff piece to celebrate the 4th of July.


End file.
